Santer demands stronger powers

Date: 21/12/1995

By Rory Watson

EUROPEAN Commission President Jacques Santer will campaign in the coming year to increase his personal power over his colleagues so that he may select, reshuffle and, if necessary, dismiss them.

Armed with the experience of leading a government for over a decade, Santer will argue that a Commission president needs an effective armoury to ensure that all members participate actively in the institution's work and respect the collegiate line. That argument will be even more compelling when enlargement of the Union inevitably means more Commissioners.

The move comes after Santer told EU leaders at last weekend's summit: “You have to recognise the president of the Commission has no power over Commissioners.”

Santer wants the matter examined in next year's Intergovernmental Conference (IGC), but his campaign is certain to run into opposition from some member states who are against any strengthening of the Commission president's hand.

Among ideas now circulating is the suggestion that the European Parliament should elect the next Commission president from a short-list drawn up by EU leaders. Strengthened with this democratic legitimacy, the president-elect should have the freedom to select his own team, say supporters of a change. “The president could perhaps choose candidates from lists put forward by governments, putting together a team he considers politically appropriate and selecting people according to their ability and experience,” suggested one senior official.

Such a procedure would be a radical change from the current practice whereby a Commission president has hardly any say in the make-up of his team.

Those who wish to give the president more authority argue he should have the ability to distribute and reshuffle portfolios without outside interference, sanction errant colleagues and dismiss them if necessary.

But Santer's move is likely to be pounced on by Commission critics, who believe that his predecessor Jacques Delors already wielded far too much power and will argue against writing any new authority into the revised Maastricht Treaty.

“If you are talking about the power to sack individual Commissioners, to decline nominations made by governments or to be able to pick from a slate, then these are very controversial suggestions,” warned one senior national diplomat.

Nor is it likely that the individual Commissioners themselves, particularly the more strong-willed members, would take kindly to the prospect of a future president having the ability to discipline or even dismiss them.

German Chancellor Helmut Kohl opened the debate on increased presidency powers at the Madrid summit, telling colleagues over dinner that he was unhappy “at the behaviour of certain members of the Commission”.

His comments were clearly directed at those who put in less than a full week's work, at Environment Commissioner Ritt Bjerregaard, whose diary cast many colleagues in an unflattering light, and at Transport Commissioner Neil Kinnock for his remarks about a single currency and enlargement.

The European Parliament has already suggested the Commission president should select his colleagues in agreement with national governments, while the Party of European Socialists, which includes eight EU prime ministers in its ranks, favours giving MEPs the right to nominate candidates for Commission president.

Under existing EU rules, the European Parliament alone may force all the Commissioners to resign by passing a censure vote on the institution. There is currently only one way, apart from death or resignation, an individual member can be forced to leave the Commission: by being compulsorily retired.

That decision is taken by the European Court of Justice after an application from either the Council of Ministers or the Commission itself on the grounds that a member “no longer fulfils the conditions required for the performance of his duties” or “has been guilty of serious misconduct”.